A half-cooked superhero smash squanders its untapped streaming potential

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That’s out of the question Hancock was a huge hit at the box office, with the original superhero blockbuster raking in a lucrative $630 million at the box office – partly due to the novelty of seeing the world’s biggest movie star headlining a big-budget epic that’s in the hottest genre the industry is playing – but it was still a massive missed opportunity.

Originally conceived two decades earlier as a dark and subversive take on the comic book adaptation’s signature tropes and trappings, director Peter Berg’s $150 million adventure was almost unrecognizable from the prescribed screenplay He’s coming tonight Outside of his main lineage, he focuses on a washed-up, hard-drinking, and human-hating demigod walking a path to salvation.

Of course, if Smith takes the top billing — plus a $20 million payday up front and 20 percent of the accounting gross — Hancock would always have its hardest edges ground down. What makes it even more annoying is that the first act was more than enough to give the impression that we were witnessing a totally unique super-powered story.

Unfortunately, things eventually settle into routine, and it’s evident that no one involved in the production or the creative sides of things was willing to take the same risks that made up the first third to the finish line. It’s okay for what it is, but could have been so much more, even if FlixPatrol credits it as one of the most watched films on Rakuten, suggesting viewers at home are still happy to give Hancock another whirl, despite its frustrating flaws.